Final OK Adds $19M To PVC Pipe Purchasers' Ill. Price-Fix Pot

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge gave her final blessing Thursday to a $19 million settlement between direct polyvinyl chloride pipe purchasers and a manufacturer they accused of participating in an illegal price-fixing conspiracy, sending their total recovery to just over $200 million to date.

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Airlines Hit With Broad Antitrust Suit Over Price Info Exchange

By Rachel Riley

Major airlines including Delta, United, American, Alaska, JetBlue and Southwest have kept airfares high by sharing proprietary dynamic pricing information through a revamped data hub operated by Airline Tariff Publishing Co., two ticket buyers claim in a proposed class action filed in Washington federal court Wednesday.

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DOJ Can't Tie State Grants To Immigration Enforcement

By Rae Ann Varona

A Rhode Island federal judge has granted a coalition of states' bid to permanently bar the Trump administration from conditioning federal public safety grants on the states' cooperation with the administration's immigration enforcement priorities, vacating the funding conditions as unlawful.

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Live Nation Cites 2nd Circ. Eyewear Ruling In Fighting Verdict

By Dorothy Atkins

Live Nation has told a New York federal judge that the Second Circuit's recent EssilorLuxottica ruling "bears on the market-definition issues" raised in Live Nation's post-trial motions challenging its antitrust trial loss, while enforcing states argued that the Ninth Circuit's recent NFL Sunday Ticket ruling reversal backs their trial win.

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DOJ Says Willow Bridge's RealPage Deal Needs No Tweaks

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice responded to commenters pushing for changes to the rent price-fixing settlement it reached with Willow Bridge Property Co. LLC, arguing there's no need to add a distinction in the deal between rent renewals and first-time leases.

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FTC Claims Amazon Inflated Ad Auction Prices By 250%

By Dorothy Atkins

The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have revealed new allegations against Amazon in their sprawling antitrust fight in Washington federal court over online search advertising auctions, including new details alleging Amazon secretly raised advertising prices by as much as 250% to increase its revenue by $87 million worldwide.

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Brief

Chicago DOJ Doc Deadline Moves, Probe Testimony May Too

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge who is looking to explore the extent to which Chicago prosecutors misrepresented their work surrounding a push to indict six "Operation Midway Blitz" protesters extended the government's document production deadline again Thursday, as a prosecutor expected to testify asked the judge to consider postponing that upcoming hearing.

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Ill. Firm Accused Of Pushing Workers' Comp Deal On Client

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois woman who says she suffered permanent spinal injuries while working in healthcare has sued Chicago law firm Gordon Gordon & Centracchio, alleging it pressured her into accepting an inadequate workers' compensation settlement rather than pursuing permanent total disability benefits and failed to investigate potential medical malpractice claims.

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Home Depot, Others Fight Bid To Merge Tariff Refund Suits

By Jack McLoone

Home Depot said it opposed combining every proposed customer class action over increased costs from tariffs into multidistrict litigation, claiming there are too many economic differences between the suits. 

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Liberty Seeks To Dismantle Rental Car Coverage Class

By Carolyn Muyskens

Liberty Mutual urged a Massachusetts federal judge Thursday to decertify a nationwide class of policyholders claiming it arbitrarily limited a rental vehicle benefit, saying the class has no path forward after its damages theory was rejected.

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Toyota Hit With Class Action Over Hybrid Inverter Recall

By Jonathan Capriel

Toyota knowingly sold newer-model Camry and Corolla Cross Hybrids with a defective inverter bolt, causing loss of power or fire, according to a proposed class action that accused the automaker of teetering when it came to a recall.

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Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

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Are You Happy With Your In-House Role? Take Our Survey

Is your company giving you everything you need to succeed? What are some misconceptions about working in-house? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Satisfaction Survey.

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Alston & Bird Hires 2 Ex-Goodwin Procter Real Estate Pros

By Kevin Penton

Alston & Bird LLP has added two real estate attorneys previously with Goodwin Procter LLP as partners in Los Angeles, the firm announced Friday.

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US Charges 3 Over $129M AI Scam Using Fake UK Lawyers

By Laura Stewart Liberty

U.S. prosecutors said Thursday they have charged three men, including one facing extradition from London, for allegedly defrauding companies of $129 million through a scheme that used AI to impersonate executives and U.K. lawyers.

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Defeated Texas Justice Being Considered For Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

With the clock ticking on Republicans' control of the Senate, President Donald Trump is considering putting a Texas Supreme Court justice who just lost reelection on the federal bench.

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Ice Miller Sued Over $729K Award After Losing Federal Forum

By Andrea Keckley

A couple who hired Ice Miller LLP to defend their organization against a breach of contract suit have accused the firm in Indiana federal court of exposing them to additional litigation with a settlement that failed to preserve federal jurisdiction over future disputes.

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Japan's Anderson Mori Plans 2-Office Spring Launch In Texas

By Lynn LaRowe

Japan's Anderson Mori & Tomotsune is planning to enter the U.S. market next year with offices in Dallas and Houston, citing the Lone Star State's status as a business hub and client demand from global and Japanese businesses as factors driving the expansion.

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WilmerHale Rehires Treasury Official, Former Counsel In DC

By Jack Rodgers

A former Treasury Department official who worked as the agency's undersecretary for domestic finance has rejoined WilmerHale's financial institutions group as a partner, the firm announced Friday.

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Brief

Goldberg Segalla Adds Retail And Hospitality Partner In NJ

By Matt Perez

Goldberg Segalla LLP announced it has hired a former Reilly McDevitt & Henrich PC attorney to be a partner in its retail and hospitality practice group.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Susman Godfrey LLP, Langer Grogan & Diver PC, Hausfeld LLP and MoloLamken LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit ruled that a former federal judge erred by scrapping a $4.7 billion jury verdict against the National Football League in a class action over the price of its Sunday Ticket broadcast package.

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Law Firm Sues Sierra Leone Over $361K Legal Bill

By Jared Foretek

Law firm Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC claims in a complaint filed in D.C. federal court that Sierra Leone's government stiffed it on more than $300,000 in legal fees and costs after the firm defended it against earlier claims of unpaid fees by Jenner & Block.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud could backfire in some cases, experts say. Elsewhere, attorneys are weighing new strategies in the wake of Texas' historic blue shift during the midterm elections. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Brief

US Legal Sector Jobs Reached Record High In October

By Tracey Read

The legal industry's hot streak continued last month, adding 2,400 more jobs in October to reach a record high, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Mich. Supreme Court Chief Next To Lead Chief Justice Group

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court's chief justice has been named president-elect of the Conference of Chief Justices, a national organization representing the highest-ranking state judicial officers, and she plans to focus on expanding access to legal services, reforming attorney licensing and strengthening courthouse security.

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3rd Circ. Preview: UPenn Staff Rifts, FTC $3M Fee Fight

By George Woolston

The Third Circuit began its November session by examining Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers' appeal of his death sentence and is set to hear a number of other matters ranging from a state's bid to restore millions of dollars in food aid, to the federal government fighting a $3 million counsel fee award, to reviewing the third-party harassment test.

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Blank Rome Partner, Hotel Founder Disputes $15.6M Tax Bill

By Zak Kostro

A Blank Rome LLP partner who founded a luxury boutique hotel in Italy told the U.S. Tax Court the IRS improperly determined he owes roughly $15.6 million in taxes and penalties, disputing the agency's assertion that his hotel operations didn't qualify as a business for purposes of claiming expenses.

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Squire Patton, Baker McKenzie Hit With Data Breach Suits

By Rae Ann Varona

Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Baker McKenzie failed to protect private personal information stored in the law firms' systems from separate cyberattacks and delayed notifying affected individuals for roughly two months, two proposed class actions filed in Ohio and Illinois federal courts have alleged.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Judge Kewalramani Warns Against Taking Sanctions Lightly

By Dani Kass

Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Shashi Kewalramani on Friday cautioned patent attorneys to be extremely discerning when filing sanctions motions, comparing it to crying "fire" in a crowded room.

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